


I Will Look at Things I Don't Want to See

by wes411



Category: Gone Series - Michael Grant, Supernatural
Genre: Gen, NOT anti-spn (unfortunately), i hate myself for writing this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-21
Updated: 2019-01-03
Packaged: 2019-04-25 23:46:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 10,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14389626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wes411/pseuds/wes411
Summary: Dean and Sam are transported into the FAYZ. How will they handle the disaster zone filled with kids who have seen and done just as many horrible things as them? How will the Perdido Beach kids react when two grown men suddenly show up as instantly and oddly as the other adults had left? And who gets cemented??





	1. Just One of Those FAYZ

**Author's Note:**

> listen. im so sorry. my friend and i love gone and HATE supernatural, even though we were both really into it years ago. we were joking and imagined what a gone/spn fic would look like. we looked up if there were any on here, saying that there had to be, and if there weren't i would write one. there weren't any. so now im writing one. and i HATE MYSELF for doing this.
> 
> anyway ive seen about 4 episodes of supernatural and my entire knowledge of the show comes from the fics i read in 2012 and what my friend has told me. therefore sam and dean will be the only spn characters and it takes place at some point after season 3. in gone its canon up until fear, when sam and squad are up by the lake and caine is down in the town, except astrid is also at the lake. it deviates from canon a lot after that so no spoilers for fear and light. also the warning is bc its gone so everythings gonna be gross and disturbing.

It would be hard to say what “just another” day meant for Dean at this point. Dealing with the forces of God? Normal. Exorcism? Normal. Ganking the things that go bump in the night, that most people would be scared shitless to know exist? All part of the job. But this? Going to sleep in some town in Georgia after a successful hunt, and waking up outside in a town he’d never seen before? Very much not normal.  


It looked normal, at first glance. A small Californian town near the ocean. Dean can only imagine the hot suburban moms that would usually be milling around the town center, shopping and talking, maybe pushing some strollers. Usually Dean would make a crack to Sam about small-town life or MILFs or something, but it’s way too quiet for jokes. The air is thick, no stores are open, and there’s not a person in sight. It’s early, 5am, but surely someone had to be around, right?

Dean turned to look at Sam, who was staring around them with a confused look on his face. He took stock of the things Dean had already sized up, like the ransacked hardware store, the burnt-down apartment building, the pristine day care and McDonald’s, before his eyes landed on the ominous sight in the center of the lawn: a bunch of crosses, at least 20, sticking up in front of mounds of freshly-turned earth. An idyllic beach town shouldn’t have a makeshift graveyard smack dab in the middle of it.

“Dean,” Sam whispered, as if he was afraid of breaking the eerie silence. “Where are we?”

“I don’t know Sammy,” Dean replied in a low voice (but not a whisper, because it took more than a spooky little town to frighten Dean Winchester) “but we gotta get out of the open. I feel like we’re about to star in our own Western shoot-out.” He paused. “That would be kinda awesome though.”

Sam rolled his eyes but followed Dean down one of the streets leading away from the town square. It was a residential street, with large houses standing neatly next to one another. The lawns were a different situation though. There was trash everywhere, some in bags and some just strewn about carelessly. Bikes and cars littered the street, crashed into mailboxes and each other. They came across a front lawn with a dog house. There was a rope tied to the front that trailed around to the backyard. There were marks in the ground as if something was dragged.

Looking at each other, Sam raised his eyebrows and shrugged, as if to say “Well, go check it out.” Dean groaned softly as he carefully crept around the side of the house. What he saw almost made him sick. The rope ended in a circle of brown-stained grass that Dean recognized as dried blood. There was a huge kitchen knife lying next to it, also crusted in blood. But the worst was a couple feet away, where a grill stood. On it was more blood and tufts of black fur. Whatever had happened to this town, it seemed that people had resorted to eating their pets. Dean wondered how long before they realized that eating each other would come next, if they hadn’t already. He sighed, and walked back around to where Sam was waiting. He answered his brother’s questioning look with a shake of his head, and they both kept walking down the street.


	2. Bucket Hat Quinn

Sam and Dean followed the road until they caught sight of the ocean, particularly the boats that were currently making their way towards shore. Dean quietly rushed towards a large group of rocks near the pier to hide behind, Sam following close behind. When they looked over at the boats, they were surprised to say the least.

“Kids?” Dean mouthed at Sam, whose face mirrored the bemusement and worry that Dean was feeling. They looked back at the fishermen - fisher-kids - the fishers as they came up on the beach.

“Bring the catch up to Albert, guys,” called the one in a Hawaiian shirt, cargo shorts, and a bucket hat. “And make sure he pays us back that extra ’Berto that he gypped us on yesterday.”

“Sure thing, Quinn,” and the rest of the kids started hauling coolers up the beach towards the square while the leader, Quinn, worked on getting the boats back in order.

Figuring that he was unarmed, Dean began walking toward him. Sam caught his arm and hissed “Where are you going?”

“He’s a kid, Sammy. And don’t act like you didn’t check to make sure our guns and knives came through with us, because I saw you do it first thing. Don’t you wanna know why middle schoolers are out fishing at the asscrack of dawn?”

Sam’s closed his eyes for a second, and Dean couldn’t tell whether he was so exasperated at Dean’s pigheadedness, or remembering all the times that they had to wake up early and scrounge up food when they were on the road with their dad. After a moment, Sam squared his shoulders, stepped out from behind the rock and made his way toward the kid. Dean rolled his eyes and followed.

As they approached the boats, Quinn saw their shadows from the rising sun and spun around. He immediately tensed up, and his hand twitched toward his belt, like he was reaching for a radio or a cell phone, though none was there. He backed up and fell over the side of the boat, left to stare wide-eyed at Sam and Dean as they towered over him.

“Hey kid, I’m Dean and this is Sam. We just got into town today and were wondering where exactly we are,” Dean said, on edge. This kid was nervous, and the last thing they needed was a panic.

“T-today? You just got here… today?” Quinn squeaked.

“Uh, yeah. That’s what I just said.” Sam elbowed Dean at this and then smiled at Quinn.

“What my brother means is that we’re pretty lost. Can you tell us where we are, or what your name is?” Sam said, trying to make Quinn less intimidated.

It seemed to do the trick, because Quinn stopped shaking and cleared his throat. “Okay,” he began, “put your hands on your chests.” Sam and Dean exchanged a quick confused look before complying. “No!” Quinn shouted. “Palms in, palms in!” Now sharing a confused and worried look, the brothers reversed their hands. “Good.” Quinn stood up and stared at them. “I don’t know who you are or how you got here, but it’s way above my pay grade. Caine’s in charge here, go see him.”

He hesitated, looked around him, then leaned in closer. “But you should go see Sam first. He’s at Lake Tramonto. There’s a truck going up with some fish later today, around noon. Walk up the highway to the power plant and wait there, I’ll pick you up and take you. There’s a shed on the side, wait for me there. Don’t be seen, and don’t touch anything. And if you are seen, or you do touch something, don’t mention me. At all. Deal?”

“Deal,” Sam replied, and stuck out his hand to shake.

“What did I say?!” Quinn shouted, jumping back. He looked up at the town and then back to Sam and Dean. “Look, just keep your hands pointed away from me, okay?”

“Okay man, whatever you say,” Dean said, eyebrows raised. Quinn nodded, then shooed them back towards the rocks. He watched them go, then turned back towards the boats, casting quick glances up at the town every so often.

“That was weird,” Dean commented, “weirder than that haircut you had in college.”

“Shut up, Dean,” Sam huffed. “Let’s just find the damn highway and get out of here.” He stomped away and Dean smirked before following.


	3. Calm Down, Caine

Sam and Dean cautiously made their way up the highway. Well, Sam was cautious, Dean huffed and rolled his eyes whenever Sam held out an arm to stop him, or insisted they peek around the corner like they were in a Scooby-Doo cartoon. They arrived at what had to be the power plant with minimal issue, only having to hide once when they passed a few fields of crops just outside of town. Dean was very keen to check out the inside of the power plant, but after opening the door and seeing a bunch of piano wire strung up in the hallways, razor sharp and menacing, he settled for stalking the perimeter continuously and glowering in general. Sam lasted half an hour of sighing in exasperation at Dean’s actions before gearing up and opening his mouth for undoubtedly a boring and useless lecture. Luckily for Dean, the rumble of a car drew their attentions back to the road. He smiled at Sam, who gave him a look that said “I’m fired up for a lecture and someone’s getting it sooner or later,” and gestured to the shed Quinn had mentioned.

They only had to wait a couple minutes before Quinn’s nervous face popped around the door. He forced them to sit in the bed of the truck, hiding under a tarp among all the fish, and Dean spent almost the whole ride trying not to gag too hard at the smell. Finally, finally, the truck rumbled to a stop. Dean was trying to figure out whether he was really still vibrating or just imagining it when Sam nudged him and pointed to a hole in the tarp that they could see out of. Peering through, Dean saw a Hispanic boy shaking hands with Quinn and thanking him with a forced smile.

Quinn laughed nervously and said “Hey Edilio, is Sam around? I uh… I gotta show him something.”

Edilio immediately looked suspicious. “What kinda thing, Quinn? Does Caine know about it?” The way he said Caine made Dean feel very lucky they were meeting this Sam guy instead.

“No, man, no, uh… it’s just… look, you can come too, I just gotta see Sam,” Quinn said desperately. When Edilio didn’t move, Quinn sighed and walked towards where Sam and Dean were hiding.

‘Finally,’ thought Dean. It wasn’t very comfortable lying under a tarp in a cramped truck bed among a bunch of dead fish.

Quinn threw the tarp back, revealing them to Edilio, who looked… well actually, he didn’t look that perturbed. He just sighed, and shook his head. “How come something else always has to happen whenever we finally get settled into something good?” he said, glancing up to the sky as if looking for answers. Quinn stayed silent, correctly assuming that the question was rhetorical, or at least not for him.

Dean replied, “Hey man, we don’t want to be here just as much as you don’t want us here. Quinn said we should talk to some guy named Sam, so if you could just point us in his direction we’ll be on our way.” He smiled charmingly at Edilio, who looked unimpressed, but gestured for them to follow him towards a houseboat docked close to the shore. Quinn decided that his job was done, and began to unload the fish in relief.

Inside the houseboat was an unassuming looking teen with shaggy blonde hair, who stared at Sam and Dean in shock while Edilio explained his conversation with Quinn. He blinked a few more times, then walked away, claiming he needed someone called Astrid before he could do anything else. Astrid turned out to be a very pretty girl with even blonder hair, a starched blouse, and a shrewd look. Dean was reminded of Hermione from Harry Potter, which a 16-year old Sam made them read together at a library in Wisconsin during a long hunt.

He exchanged a look with Sam, and they unspokenly agreed to tell as much of the truth as possible to these kids. Something in their eyes said that it wouldn’t be the most unbelievable thing they’d ever seen. So Sam explained how they had went to bed in a motel and woke up in the town square, and they just wanted to go back without causing any trouble. It was going well until Edilio spoke up from behind them, where he had positioned himself between the strangers and the door. Dean respected that.

“If you don’t want to cause trouble, how come you’re both carrying?” Astrid and the other Sam looked at them in surprise, but Dean just nodded and took his gun out, showing clearly that the safety was on and his finger was nowhere near the trigger.

“We’re hunters. For a living. And not animals, either. You might not believe it, but there’s some shit lurking out in the dark. It’s our job to kill ’em. Normally we don’t tell this to random kids, but some kinda monster probably landed us here, and we might need your help to get back,” Dean explained. Sam nodded in agreement, also taking his gun out and putting it on the table in front of them, pointing towards the wall. Dean hesitated, but put his gun next to Sam’s.

Edilio and the other Sam nodded, and the latter said “Well, guess it’s our turn.” They both turned to Astrid, who apparently was used to speaking for everyone. She took a deep breath and began to talk.  
About an hour later, Dean felt a headache coming on. “So you’re saying that at first everybody over 15 just disappeared—”

“Poofed,” interjected the other Sam.

“Alright, ‘poofed,’ but now you choose whether you ‘poof’ or not? But no one knows if you end up outside the wall or not? The wall that hurts to touch?”

“Yes, exactly,” said Astrid, “but most people just decide to stay. Now that we’ve got a steady supply of food there’s not as much desperation to leave.” She paused. “There’s also been some… changes… to some of the kids.”

“Yeah, starvation will do that to you” Dean said sarcastically.

“And cementing,” added Edilio under his breath. Before Dean could ask what that meant, the door burst open and a dark-haired kid who looked a little like the other Sam strolled in. He raised his hands, and suddenly Sam and Dean were thrown against one of the walls and the other Sam, Edilio, and Astrid were thrown against the other.

“Did you really think you could hide newcomers from me, Sammy?” the new boy said, smiling. “As if anything happens in my kingdom that I don’t hear about.”

Everyone started shouting and swearing, and threatening in Dean’s case, except for Sam, who just looked shocked. Finally a high-pitched voice rang out from the other side of the room, where another door had opened. “Caine! Drop them, for God’s sake! You’re so ridiculous.” It was a tall girl, who waddled further into the room and sat down in one of the recently-vacated chairs. Waddled, because she was pregnant.

The guy, Caine, let everyone drop to the floor, annoyed. “You don’t get to tell me what to do anymore, Diana—” is as far as he got before Dean picked up his gun and pointed it at him.

“What the fuck was that?!” he yelled, glancing between Caine and the other kids, who were now huddled behind the pregnant girl, Diana. She was watching everything unfold, somehow managing to look tired and smug at the same time.

Caine raised his hands again, but Edilio stepped between them. Just his presence seemed to defuse the situation, because Caine slowly brought his hands down. Dean also lowered his gun, but kept his finger on the safety, just in case. The other Sam piped up from behind them. “Oh yeah, there’s also moofs.”


	4. Put the Boys to Work

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> took a fucking while to get this up, didn't it? it has come to my attention that some people have actually read and enjoyed this. firstly, im so sorry. secondly, i will finish it eventually, but expect some breaks. thirdly, once again, so sorry.

“‘Moofs’? What the fuck is a ‘moof’?” asked Dean incredulously.

“Mutant-freak. That’s what I was trying to tell you earlier,” began Astrid, with a deep breath. “The changes have—”

“Hey wait a second,” interjected Sam with a frown. “Just because someone can move things with their mind doesn’t make them a mutant freak.” He turned to Caine. “You’re not a freak, man.” Dean suddenly understood why Sam was so upset when Caine burst in with his powers. He glared at Astrid and the other Sam. They just looked annoyed with the outburst. Caine, meanwhile, wore the most confused expression Dean had ever seen on a human before.

“Obviously telekinetic powers doesn’t make someone a mutant freak.” Astrid spoke rapidly and in an annoyed tone, almost daring anyone to interrupt her again. “But developing powers due to genetic mutations caused by radiation does make someone, inherently, a mutant. Which is what happened to a number of the kids here.” She crossed her arms. “Sam has them too. I had a power in the very beginning, but it weakened and went away after a while. I don’t even remember who started calling them ‘freaks’ but it stuck, and it’s easier to use a word that everyone knows.” At this point she turned to Sam. “Caine is a freak, but it’s not because of his powers. It’s because he cemented a bunch of kids and left them to starve. And why are you so defensive about this? Do you have telekinetic powers?”

“Cemented?” asked Dean. Everyone ignored him.

“I used to have them,” replied Sam. “But I was soulless at the time, so…”

Edilio smiled grimly. “If soullessness led to powers Drake would truly be unstoppable.”

“Who’s Drake?” asked Dean. No one answered.

“You don’t count his whip as a power?” asked the other Sam. No one answered him either. Caine had gone from looking confused to extremely haughty and annoyed.

“Alright, look,” he said, “this is all so interesting, but can we discuss what we’re going to do with these newcomers? Because I have a few ideas, but I think we should talk about it in town, the real capital of the FAYZ.”

The other Sam rolled his eyes. “Fine, but Edilio, Astrid, and Dekka are coming to this meeting too.” Caine nodded and walked out of the room. Astrid and the other Sam followed him, and Diana left through the back door. Dean and Sam turned to Edilio, each brimming with questions.

Edilio sighed and gestured for them to follow him. “C’mon, let’s go. I’ll explain everything on the way.”

\- - -

When he said “everything,” Edilio meant “everything.” On the walk down the highway, Sam and Dean learned about the other Sam’s powers, their history with the power-hungry Caine, and who else would probably be at the meeting. They met Dekka, a black girl with dreads who could apparently turn gravity off and on at will. When they asked who Drake was, Edilio grew very still and simply said, “a demon.” This spawned a conversation about Sam and Dean’s work, considering they had experience with actual demons. Sam hashed out his whole story about losing his soul, and it lasted them until they arrived back in town. Caine told them all to gather in the town hall, and he sent someone to gather the rest of the attendees.

As more kids entered the meeting room, Dean tried to match them up with the descriptions Edilio had given. The boy with slacks, loafers, and a freakin’ blazer could only be Albert, the Mr. Monopoly of the… what did Caine call it? The FAYZ? A very young boy with hollow eyes came in and quietly sat down, and Dean guessed that this must be John, who Edilio said took care of all the littlest kids. He wondered why such a large responsibility was handed to such a young boy. Two girls came in next, matching weary expressions on both faces. One had a cigarette hanging out of her mouth and a flask in her hand. Based on the way everyone gave her a respectable distance, it could only be the Healer that Edilio had mentioned, Lana. Which meant the other girl was the “doctor,” Dahra. The last person to arrive sauntered in with a smirk on his face, and clapped the other Sam on the back.

“Hey Sammy,” he said. “Just because Orc isn’t interested in this stuff anymore doesn’t mean you can leave your old buddy out, you know?” Sam grimaced and Astrid frowned, but no one stopped the skinny boy from taking a seat.

“Who’s that?” Dean whispered to Edilio.

“Howard. He used to represent this bully Orc, but I think he just wants some semblance of power, now that Orc decided to get right with God.”

Caine stood up at the head of the table. “Alright everyone, we’re just waiting for one more before we start.”

The other Sam stood up as well. “What do you mean, Caine? Who else is coming?”

Caine smirked. “Well, brother,” he spat the word as if it pained him, “I guess you haven’t been keeping up with all the family business. After Diana left, I needed someone else, someone more powerful and definitely more trustworthy.” All of a sudden, Astrid screamed and jumped up, slapping at her skin. Caine frowned and yelled “Penny, stop!” A small, scraggly girl with bony legs walked into the room and rolled her eyes, but dropped her hands. Astrid stopped screaming and collapsed back into her chair, tears rolling down her face.

Sam stood up as well. “What is going on!” he yelled.

Penny smiled at him, but it was more like a baring of teeth than a smile. “Just wondering how dear Astrid felt about insects. Guess she’s afraid of them.”

Astrid glared at her and then turned to the other Sam. “It was the bugs, Sam. The ones that Petey…. got rid of…” Her voice faded out. She faced forward again and looked down at the table.

There was a bit of an uproar in which Dean learned that some kind of flesh-eating bugs had recently ravaged the population, and that Penny had the ability to create hallucinations. He was also reminded why he tried to stay as far away from children as possible. Well. Most children. Dean shook his head to get the image of Ben out of his mind. Meanwhile, things had finally settled down around the table.

Everyone was seated except for Caine, who smiled with his hands braced on the table in front of him. “So. It seems we have a couple of newcomers here in the FAYZ. And since there’s no way out of the FAYZ, I want to make sure these boys are… part of the community. Now that they’re here forever. And in the community, you don’t eat if you don’t work. After all, two new mouths also come with four idle hands, even if they do important monster-hunting somewhere else.”

Dean frowned, and Sam put his hand up. “Wait a minute. We never agreed to be a part of anything. We just want to figure out a way to go home.”

Dean added, “Yeah. And also, we don’t wanna be a part of your stupid community, especially working for a sociopath like you.”

Caine’s hands tightened where they grasped the edge of the table, but he quickly relaxed and smiled again. “Boys, boys. Don’t think for a second that I want you here. I’m King Caine, and all I see when I look at you are two potential usurpers. But there is no way home. We’ve tried everything. It’s been the better part of a year. So you can try all you want in your spare time, but if you want to eat our food, you have to work.

“But don’t worry. I’ve got a great job for you. What could be better than protecting your leader? Bodyguard to the King?”

“Now wait a minute, Caine.” Albert frowned with his arms crossed. “You said these guys are hunters of some sort? They would be much more efficient out in the woods, especially now that Hunter’s dead.”

Astrid rolled her eyes. “Once again, you are all simplifying this matter and ignoring the implications. Two people, two adults materialized in the FAYZ! If we can study them, try to recreate their arrival, maybe we can actually find a way to leave!”

“Hey, we’re no one’s science experiment!” said Dean. “And we don’t actually have to do what you say. We’re going to find our way home, and you can either help, or stay out of it.”

“I think we should help them.” Everyone turned to look at Edilio, who continued speaking in his quiet but firm voice. Dean could tell that it was his actions that had earned him so much command and respect, because while he did nothing to physically dominate the room, suddenly he was in charge. Even Lana looked less murderous. “We should help them, and if in the process of helping them we find a way out, great. But we should help them, because they’ll be bombarded if they stay too long.”

Dahra and Dekka nodded, and the former said, “He’s right. I’ve already heard a rumor that killing an adult is the way to leave the FAYZ.”

Sam muttered, “Wow, good to know teens still gossip in a dystopian world.”

Before Dean could even snort in amusement, the door to the meeting room burst open, and a blur came into view before materializing into a small girl with pigtails. She scanned the room, frowned at Sam and Dean, but eventually settled on the other Sam. She only said five words, but it was like she had announced they were at DEFCON 1.

“I saw Drake at Ralph’s.”


	5. One Crazy Bitch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> there's been a note on my phone for the past like 4 months called "yfip: drake merwin" with everything that Drake's done in gone through plague. except it's only stuff he did that other people would know about. for example, as soon as he stopped needing to use jamal, he killed him, but no one knew he did that so how would dahra be able to tell sam and dean about it? i assume someone like dahra would keep track of all the fucked up shit he did to tell the cops when they got out, which is how she knows it all so well. (i mean yeah probably not but i really wanted to write a chapter that was just a list about how crazy drake is.)

After everyone else had sprinted out, Edilio yelling orders, Dean and Sam were left sitting across the table from Dahra, who heaved a weary sigh. “No one’s told you about Drake yet, have they?” she asked. When the brothers shook their heads, she sighed again and rubbed her temples lightly. After a moment she straightened up and looked at them with a sober expression.

“Okay. So Drake was this kid who went to school with Caine and Diana, up at the private school. After the FAYZ started, they came down and took over. Caine was in charge, and Drake was his second-in-command. He was in charge of keeping people in line, but he basically had free reign to do whatever he wanted. And what he wanted was to equip a bunch of bullies with baseball bats. Orc killed this girl, Bette, because she was breaking Caine’s no-powers rule. Drake let him do it, and beat up whoever spoke against the murder. And that was just the beginning. Sam burned his arm off, but it was replaced with this… tentacle whip. And he became… immortal, I guess? At least, he brags about being un-killable all the time. I’m not really sure what exactly happened, or how; you’d have to ask Sam, or Lana. She was the one who he kidnapped and threatened with a gun to regrow his arm. He let loose after that. Diana says the school psychologist diagnosed him as a sadistic psychopath, and frankly I’m not surprised. He’s racist, and hates women. Especially Astrid and Diana.

He hit Astrid and made her call her brother, Pete, a retard, which was a big deal for Astrid back then. Really kinda broke her. He burned down Astrid’s house while trying to shoot her and Pete. Back when he was working with Caine he helped tie up this kid to film the poof, to figure out what happened during it. He kidnapped Astrid and held a gun to her and Edilio’s heads. He pistol-whipped Sam, and then shot him in the knee. He tried to shoot a four year old. He casually whipped people just for fun, like Diana and Sam. He even choked Sam with his tentacle. Then there was the thing with the coyotes.”

“Yeah, Astrid told us they evolved? They can talk, and follow orders?” Sam asked.

“Yes. At one point, Drake led the coyotes into town. He set them on the kids in the preschool, and whipped Mary in front of them. He almost strangled her to death. And he enjoyed doing it. He was practically salivating to have those coyotes attack those kids. He couldn’t wait to see them torn apart and eaten. We filled a lot of those graves in the square that day. Orc came to fight him off, but he and Howard just ended up getting whipped. Did Astrid tell you about Orsay?”

Dean and Sam shook their heads.

“Okay, well she was this girl who could see into people’s dreams. Apparently Drake just dreams about killing and torturing people, especially Diana. When he found out Orsay was in his head, he wanted to kill and eat her. He almost never let her go, keeping her wrapped up in his tentacle constantly.

He also loved to use guns. He delighted in the idea of shooting someone. He talked about machine guns like he wanted to fuck them. It was… terrifying, to say the least. He shot this kid Josh in the leg to get him to surrender when Caine took the power plant, then whipped him anyway. Then he kicked him in the shot leg. He liked to keep hurting someone after they were incapacitated. He apparently had a ton of fun whipping Brittney at the power plant after he took her down. He also gave a kid a gun and told him to shoot Taylor, who can teleport, and said that if he refused Drake would whip him until he sees bone. Speaking of the power plant, he set up this trap for Brianna, that fast girl, by stringing up piano wire to cut her up if she ran through. He sang this song, “slice and dice,” the whole time he was doing it. When Jack said he didn’t want Brianna to be sliced, Drake whipped him, choked him, and begged to torture him.

He liked the idea of giving everyone radiation poisoning. He fantasized about shooting Dekka in the head. He promised to cut Sam’s hand off. He whipped the skin off of Sam, thoroughly enjoyed it, and even wanted to video tape it. He whipped Diana, flung her up in the air and let her fall. He whipped a random kid to death just for fun. He choked Edilio, intending to kill him, and was really looking forward to watching him die. I think Edilio said he told him ‘I’d whip you, Edilio, but I don’t really have time for fun.’ He whipped Astrid and Pete in the hopes of making them jump off a cliff.

He was captured briefly, but escaped. He enlisted this kid Jamal’s help by threatening to kill him. He made a kill list. He fought Brianna a lot, whipping her and throwing knives. She said one time he stuck his tentacle fully through a hole in his head, waved at her, and laughed. He tortured her and tried to kill her, relishing it the whole time. She stabbed him, and he enjoyed pulling the knife out of himself. He laughed again when he tripped her, even though he was in three separate pieces.

He controlled an army of those flesh-eating bugs, and was overjoyed to go on a killing spree with them. He mostly looked forward to killing Brianna, so much so that he actually stopped the bugs from eating her so he could take care of her himself. He lied to a bunch of us here in town, bragging that he killed and tortured everyone who was up at the lake, especially Brianna. He told Sam he kidnapped Astrid so he could take his time with her.

He hadn’t actually kidnapped Astrid, but he did eventually find her at the private school with Jack, Pete, and Orc. He threatened to rape Astrid, and told Orc he could ‘have whatever’s left over’ after he whipped the skin off of her. She told me he said ‘don’t go anywhere, beautiful, I’ll be up in a minute to play.’ She said she can’t forget that, no matter how hard she tries. She also said that he winked at her while he choked Jack, laughing even though Jack had punched a hole through his chest, and taunted that Jack couldn’t save Orc.

And of course, he was the one who cemented all the kids at Coates. The private school. Dekka said he kicked her in the head after cementing her.”

“What the hell is cementing? That’s like the fourth time we’ve heard about it,” said Dean.

“It’s a thing that Caine came up with. The powers that people have are mainly concentrated through the hands. To ensure he was the most powerful, Caine had Drake encase moofs’ hands in cement and left them to starve.”

“God,” Sam breathed. “Drake sounds like a crazy demon.”

Dean looked down at his waist, where his demon knife was holstered. “Yeah. A demon.” He caught Sam’s eye, and gestured to the knife. They smiled, and turned back to Dahra, who was getting up.

“Sorry I can’t stick around guys, but I gotta go get the office ready for the kids who Drake will hurt.”

“Just one more thing,” said Dean. “Can you show us where Edilio and Sam T. are?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> p.s. i wrote this chapter while watching the live action grinch


	6. Let's Hatch This Plan!

Dean and Sam found Edilio and Sam T. in what could only be the mayor’s office with Caine, Astrid, Dekka, and Brianna. They were discussing how to get people to a safe place before Drake showed up. As they entered the room they heard Astrid say dully “Is anywhere really safe with that maniac around?”

“Hey guys, we were thinking and we might have a way to kill this mother,” said Dean as he and Sam stepped up to the group.

“We have this knife, right,” Sam continued, “and it kills actual demons from Hell, so maybe it’ll do some damage on Drake?”

Caine’s face lit up with one of the creepiest smiles Dean had ever seen. Like, Grinch-level creepy. “A demon knife, huh? And where does one get something like that?”

Everyone in the room said something along the lines of “shut up, Caine,” and the conversation moved on.

Sam T. said “I think we should draw Drake to us, make him think he’s got the upper hand, and then spring this demon knife thing on him. Turn the tables.”

“Okay, but he’s already coming here. We can know when he’s gonna get here, but how can we possibly anticipate his plan?” said Edilio.

Astrid cleared her throat and spoke so quietly that Dean had to lean in to hear her. “We could… use bait… so we know what he’s gonna do when he gets here.” Her eyes darted to Brianna and Dekka, and then down at the floor. Sam T. touched her arm lightly, and she shook her hair back and looked up at them all. “If we set up someone he really hates, we know he would go for them immediately. We know he would taunt us before killing them. And we know exactly where he’d be. We could orchestrate the whole thing, and if we did it right, he would never know.”

Everyone was silent for a few seconds, then Edilio voiced the question that was undoubtedly on everyone’s minds: “So who’s the bait?”

Dekka answered with a wry smile. “Someone he really hates? Could only be me, Brianna, or Astrid.”

Right away Sam T. stepped in front of Astrid and said “No way. Astrid’s been through enough recently, don’t you think?”

Edilio laughed bitterly and said “Haven’t we all?”

Dekka stepped forward and raised her chin. “I’ll do it.”

“No, I’ll do it!” said Brianna. “I’ll show that bastard what happens when you mess with the Breeze!”

Dekka started shaking her head, but Edilio nodded with a fiercely ponderous look on his face. “Yeah,” he said, “Brianna should do it.” Dekka made a noise of dissent, but he held up a hand and she quieted. “Brianna should zip around, making it look like she’s trying to spy on him or something.” He shot a look at the girl in question. “Slow enough that he can catch you, but not too slow to be obvious, okay?” Brianna nodded. “Okay. Once he has her, he’ll come into the town square. Then what?”

“I’ll stop him in his tracks,” snarled Dekka, with a dark look on her face.

“Great. Caine, can you handle pushing him up against a wall without being too dramatic?”

Caine scoffed. “Of course.” He looked like he had more to say, but Edilio cut him off.

“Sam, while Caine holds him still, you start burning his tentacle, okay?” Sam T. nodded. “Burn it at his shoulder, so Brianna can get free. Once he’s distracted with that, Dean will come out and stab him with the knife. If it works, Drake will die, and Sam will burn the rest of him. If it doesn’t, Drake will likely kill us all. Sound good?”

Again, there was a moment of silence as everyone looked around at each other somberly, almost sizing their allies up. Finally, Dean said “Sure. I always wanted to die at the hand of a teenage tentacle monster,” and turned to leave the room. “Who’s gonna show me where I hide?”

Everyone filed out after him. As Sam W. was about to leave, Edilio grabbed his arm. “Listen, Drake’s too smart and Caine’s too extra for this to go off without a hitch. We need a Plan B.”

Sam W. nodded. “What did you have in mind?”

Edilio smiled. “Well, I just need one favor…”


	7. Could Caine Chill For Like, Two Seconds?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So this whole fic is done at this point. I'll probably just post updates every few days until it's all up. This chapter really earns the graphic depictions of violence warning, but if you've read the gone series then it's nothing you can't handle.

Everyone was in position, just waiting for Drake to show up. Dekka and Caine were behind the buildings on one side of the plaza, and Sam, Dean, and Sam T. were behind the buildings on the other side. Sam T. had insisted that Astrid be escorted back up to the lake, for her safety. It was so quiet, it was like the whole town was waiting with them. Just as Dekka whispered to Caine “It shouldn’t take this long” a laugh rang out. A laugh that held no joy, only triumph. Caine winked at Dekka and mouthed “showtime.”

“You fat sluts!” Drake was here.

He stepped out from the shadows, into the light of the town square. “You think you can send the speedster bitch to spy on me? To _catch_ me? You really think she can succeed against _me_? Whip Hand?” He laughed again. Dean peeked out from where he was hiding to see why Dekka hadn’t stopped gravity on him yet, and immediately got his answer. Drake held an unconscious Brianna by the neck in his tentacle. The only reason Dean could tell she was just knocked out and not dead was that her face was reddening. Drake was slowly squeezing the life out of her.

Dekka must have come to the same conclusion, that if Brianna wasn’t dead yet she soon would be, because that was when Drake shot up in the air and hovered a few feet off the ground. Before he could even look around to see where Dekka was, Drake was pushed backwards against the wall of the hardware store. Caine skillfully pulled Brianna toward him at the same time, and Dekka cut Brianna free with her knife, probably too impatient to wait for Sam T. to burn the tentacle off. Everything was going to plan, surprisingly, when Caine apparently got too tired of following the script.

He approached Drake, inadvertently getting between him and Sam T. He smirked, and started monologuing. “You thought you were better than me, didn’t you Drake? Ever since we met, I could tell, you wanted to be in control. Wanted to boss me around, wanted Diana? How’d that turn out for you Drake? Are you in control? Are you in charge of me? Do you have Diana? Or are you trapped, held at _my_ will, in _my_ town, while Diana walks around with _my_ baby? That seems to be the case from where I’m standing, Drake.”

“You know what, Caine? I actually really like where you’re standing.” Drake’s tentacle whipped out and slashed Caine across the eye. While he had advanced on his prey, the range of Caine’s power concentrated more and more on Drake’s center, so eventually Drake recovered the use of his tentacle. Caine screamed and fell back, clutching his face, releasing the monster completely.

When he pulled his hands away, Dean could see that his actual eye had been sliced open. Blood and goo mixed together and dripped down his cheek. The large gash that extended above and below his eye was spreading open, revealing more blood and a bit of bone. Caine began trying to scoop his eye back into its socket, but it was a lost cause. As everyone watched in horrified fascination, the small nerves that connected Caine’s eyes to his head slowly became visible. His eye was slipping out of his head, and threatened to fall onto the ground. Caine was screaming, “My eye! Get my eye! Put it back!” among unintelligible sobbing. When the eye finally fell out altogether, Drake came forward and stepped on it. Dean thought he could hear the squish, even though it was impossible to hear anything over Caine’s wails of agony. Caine turned around and stumbled away the best he could with the blood-clouded vision of one eye.

Before Caine was even out of sight, Drake laughed and turned to face Dekka, who had tried to carry Brianna away to safety. She had not succeeded much, only managing to deposit her behind a heavily-graffitied rock. Brianna’s legs were visible beyond a side that once read “Mother Mary rulez!” but was now crossed out.

Dekka whirled around quickly, but Drake was faster. He whipped her leg, hard, three times in an instant. A flash of white confirmed that he was able to expose her kneecap. She cried out and crumbled. Sam T. stepped out from his hiding place and raised his hands, but Drake had expected this as well. He held his tentacle above Dekka’s face, and said “Go ahead, Sammy. Zap me. But do you think you can burn all of me before I whip all the skin off your dyke friend’s face? That sounds like a fun experiment, actually. Should we try it out?” He laughed again, and Sam T. slowly lowered his hands.

Dean turned to Sam with his arms held out, as if to say, “What now?” But Sam wasn’t there anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) listen i don't know how eyes work  
> 2) i think drake said at one point to dekka "i dont hate you because youre gay, i hate you because youre a woman" but lets be honest he probably also hates her because shes gay  
> 3) we all know drake would never say "you fat sluts." but wouldnt it be hilarious if he did?


	8. Sam Temple? Useless.

Dean didn’t have to look far to find his brother. As soon as he turned back to the scene in the plaza, he saw that Sam had snuck around the back of the buildings and was slowly creeping  towards Drake, holding the demon knife. Dean, his own knife in hand, left his safe hiding spot to face Drake, hoping to keep his attention off of Sam. “Hey! Asshole! You ever fight a real man?”

Drake reached out and whipped him in the chest. Dean winced, but honestly he had endured much worse during his time in Hell. Even before that, he had learned to keep going after taking a hit. He kept walking towards Drake, whose face had paled slightly. He was no longer smiling. He looked at Sam T. and yelled, “What the hell is this? What is this?? Tell me or I’ll kill you, I swear to God, Sammy!”

Sam T. smiled and answered, “Oh, haven’t you heard Drake? There are adults in the FAYZ now.”

Drake whispered, “No” and shook his head.

“Oh yeah. These guys popped in this morning, and they decided to help us kill you. You know what they do for a living, Drake? They hunt monsters. The supernatural. They knew right away how to get rid of a demon like you. And after you die, I’m going to burn your body and bury the ashes. You’ll never come back, Drake. You hear me? You’re. Done.”

But he had made a fatal mistake.

“They?”

Sam T. blanched, and his eyes flew to Sam, who was almost within striking distance. Drake turned around and smiled again. His tentacle flew out and wrapped itself around Sam’s right wrist, which held the knife, and twisted it around. This time Dean could hear the damage, as a nasty crack rang out in the plaza. Sam doubled over and the demon knife clattered to the ground. As Drake released his brother, Dean could see exactly what he had done. Sam’s hand was almost facing sideways, his broken wrist bones doing their best to poke through the skin. Dean swallowed down the bile that swarmed up his throat and cried out "Sammy, no!" while trying to assess the situation. Brianna was down. Dekka was down. Caine was down and out. Sam looked like he was trying to fight off the pain enough to keep going, but it was a losing battle. That left Dean and Sam T.

Admittedly, not a bad duo. Dean had years of experience fighting and taking down bad guys. And Sam T. could shoot laser beams out of his hands. Overall, pretty intimidating. But Drake didn’t seem to care. And considering he singlehandedly took down three other fighters, Dean could understand why. But Drake staying just made him that much more dangerous. In Dean’s experience, the people who put themselves at risk for the sole joy of hurting people were the hardest to defeat.

Their only advantage was that Drake didn’t seem to put any importance on the demon knife. He simply kicked it out of anyone’s reach and turned back to Dean and Sam T. But Dean had his own knife out. And Sam T. had built-in weapons. Neither of them could try to get the demon knife back without tipping Drake off that it was more than an ordinary blade. At least Sam T. had seemed to realize this as well, because this time he kept his eyes firmly on Drake, not darting once to the demon knife. With Drake still standing over Dekka, ready to whip her face off at any moment, it seemed they were stuck.

That didn’t mean they weren’t going to try, though. Dean began slowly inching around their little circle, heading for the knife, and did his very best to distract Drake with his words.

“Okay. You got us. I’m Dean Winchester, and that’s my brother, Sam. We’re hunters, but we’re not after animals. Unless you count werewolves, I guess.” He forced a chuckle. "Sam T. here said we hunt monsters like you. Well, we hunt monsters, but you... you're unlike anything we’ve ever seen. That whip is so cool. You’re like Indiana Jones or something. All you need is the hat.”

Drake frowned. “I don’t wear hats. Stop moving.” He glanced to Sam. “You can’t help your brother, you know. After I kill you both, I’m going to choke the life out of him. I’m going to stand over his body as it squirms, my whip wrapped around his throat, and I’m going to watch the life leave his eyes. What do you think the last thing he ever sees should be? My face, or your dead body?”

Drake lunged at Dean, who leapt back and crouched. He swept his leg out and tripped Drake, but Drake recovered quickly and whipped Dean’s arm. Sam T. shot a beam at Drake and hit him squarely in the chest, but Drake laughed and kept advancing on them, now with a hole in his stomach. Dean could see his liver hanging out slightly. Then Drake stopped moving. He had gone as far as he could go while still being able to reach Dekka. They still couldn’t really attack him without risking her life.

Suddenly Sam roared, and ran at Drake, his wrist cradled into his chest. He braced his shoulders and rammed Drake in the side, pushing him into the ring of light of the brightest street lamp still working in the plaza. Drake snarled and turned to punish Sam, his tentacle raised above his head, ready to strike, when _bang_.

A shot rang out.


	9. Edilio is the Best Character in the Series

Dean looked up to see where the shot had come from, but looked back when he heard a crackling sound. Drake's eyes, nose and mouth were flashing, like he was being electrocuted from the inside out. But Dean knew what was really happening. Had Sam picked up the knife and stabbed him? He must have, because there was no mistaking the sight of a demon being killed. Drake fell on his back, his eyes now lifeless. He looked like a husk of a person. Dean slowly approached him and nudged him with his boot. Nothing happened. Everyone stood still, shocked. Sam T. had his mouth open. Sam was on his knees, his expression a mixture of pain and relief. Dekka called out, “Is he dead?”

Dean shrugged and said, “I’m not getting up close to him to feel for a pulse.”

Sam T. said, “Step back,” and blasted another hole in Drake’s body, in almost the same spot the first one had been. But this one didn’t close. It stayed open, leaking a little blood. Drake didn’t move an inch when it hit. He was truly, finally, miraculously dead. Sam T. let out a little laugh, which was echoed by Dekka. Soon they were both laughing hysterically, as if they couldn’t believe what had happened.

Finally their laughter petered out, and they became stone-faced again. “Who shot him?” asked Dekka. She looked at Sam. “Was it you?”

Sam was still kneeling on the ground, trying not to move his injured arm at all. He groaned out a no, and hoarsely said, “It was Edilio.”

“Edilio?”

“Yeah. Me.” Edilio calmly walked into the light from behind them.

“But how did you kill him?” asked Sam T.

“And how did you exorcise him without the knife?” added Dekka.

“And how did Sam know?” said Dean.

Edilio put his hands up to stop their questions, and explained. “I knew we needed a Plan B. I knew Caine would screw it up somehow.” Everyone nodded knowingly. “So I asked Sam W. to show me how to carve the symbols from the demon knife on a bullet. It took a while, and I went through a bunch of ammo, but I eventually got one. But then I couldn’t get a good shot.”

“Where were you?” interjected Dean.

“Up in the church tower. But with it being so dark, and only having one chance, I didn’t want to risk anything. When Sam W. pushed him into the light, I could finally be sure that I wouldn’t miss. Sam,” he turned to Sam T., “go get Lana.”

Sam T. stood there with his mouth open again, except now it was in awe of his friend. “I can’t believe you did it. You killed Drake. You _killed_ Drake.”

“Sam. Lana. Go get her.”

“Right.” He tore his eyes away from Drake’s body and jogged off towards the church Edilio had come from.

Dean walked over to Sam, stopping to pick up the demon knife and secure it in its holster. He bent down to get a better look at his brother’s wrist. “I know you said she’s a healer, but can she really heal this?” he asked. Edilio smirked.

“Just wait.”

\- - -

Indeed Lana could heal Sam. It only took her about a minute, and then both Sam and Dean were marveling at his wrist, now looking as normal as it had before. Lana went around to Dekka and Brianna, and healed them too. Brianna took much longer than them all. She didn’t even wake up when Lana was done, just stayed asleep.

Lana looked exhausted as she trudged back towards the church. She stopped next to where Edilio, Dean, and Sam were standing, and addressed the former. “Brianna’s gonna be fine. She just needs some sleep. She’ll be back to her annoying self by tomorrow morning.” She sighed. “I also helped Caine. He came to me and Dahra howling like a baby. He’s still only got one eye, but at least he stopped screaming. He went off somewhere to lick his wounds. You owe me for that one, Edilio. Worst patient ever.”

Edilio nodded and looked her in the eye. “Thank you Lana. I know it sucks, but you’re the real hero of the FAYZ.”

“No Edilio, that's you. I’m just the Healer.” She smirked and walked away, disappearing up the road with her hands in her pockets. As she left, the sky lightened with the first inklings of dawn. Everyone could now see all the blood that had been spilled that night. Which brought their attention to Drake’s corpse.

“What do we do with the body?” asked Sam T. Dekka answered him immediately.

“Cement him.”


	10. Ashes to Ashes, Cement to Cement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this was.... extremely satisfying to write

It played out like this: Dean, Sam, and Dekka all stood in a circle around the body while Sam T. stood at the feet and held his hands up. He carefully burned Drake’s body, making sure to turn every single inch into ash. Edilio had gone into the town hall, and as Sam T. was finishing up, he emerged with a large bucket, a heavy trash bag, and two sticks. He put the bucket down by what used to be Drake’s tentacle, and Dean could see that it contained a little bit of water. Edilio opened the trash bag and poured the contents into the bucket with Dekka’s help. It was gravel, so smashed up that it was more like a powder than anything else. Then they picked up the sticks and stirred, until a facsimile of cement was created. When the mixture started to harden, and it was getting harder to stir, they withdrew their sticks, and Edilio nodded at Dekka.

With a faint smile on her face, Dekka undid gravity in the area where Drake’s ashes lay, and they began floating. Sam T. used the now empty trash bag to gather them up out of the air. He dumped them into the bucket, and Dekka and Edilio resumed their stirring. They mixed the ashes into the cement, making sure they were folded in well. Finally they were satisfied, and pulled their sticks out to let the cement fully dry.

By this time Brianna had woken up. They told her what happened, and she did a few victory laps around the plaza. They couldn’t see her, but they could hear her whoops echoing around them. When she skidded to a stop, she wore a huge smile. Edilio smiled as well, the largest one he had given since Dean had met the guy. He told her to go find Quinn, and tell him to get a boat ready. And to see if she could find some chains. Brianna saluted and whooshed off to locate the fisherman.

By the time Sam and Dean had lugged the bucket down to the dock, Dekka, Edilio, and Sam T. trailing behind, Quinn and Brianna were there in a boat waiting for them. They helped to haul the bucket into the boat with them. As soon it was secured and the chains were passed along to Edilio, Brianna got ready to speed away, saying she needed to spread to the good word about Drake’s defeat. Before she could go, Dekka put a hand on her shoulder. She offered to go with her, a soft smile on her face. Brianna complained about being slowed down, but smiled back and they walked off, their hands brushing together every so often.

Sam, Dean, Edilio, and Sam T. climbed into the boat with Quinn, and they sailed out towards the barrier. Sam and Dean helped Edilio get the cement out of the bucket, and wrap the chains around it. They ended up having to cut the bucket away, and by the time they were finished the boat had been idling by the barrier for a few minutes. Sam and Dean offered to help lift the block of cement over the side, but Sam T. and Edilio said they would prefer to do it themselves. After a moment, Sam T. invited Quinn to help. The three boys struggled, but eventually got the block up on the rail, and then over into the sea. They all stood at the edge, staring down into the water, imagining the cement block that contained Drake sinking quickly before settling onto the sandy floor. It brought a smile to everyone’s face. They sailed to shore.

When they got back, Sam T. and Edilio walked with Sam and Dean back to town, while Quinn stayed behind to get the boat back in order. When they reached the battle scene, Sam T. spoke. “Thank you guys, for helping us kill Drake.”

Dean shrugged and replied modestly, “Yeah, well, it’s all just part of the job, Sam.” 

Sam T. shook his head and said, “No, it really is a big deal. There’s still a bigger threat out there, but literally every single thing we have to go up against will be easier to take down now that Drake’s out of the way.”  
Sam said “You’re welcome,” but Dean just sighed.

“I guess we’ll be around to help with those bigger threats too, considering we still don’t have a way out.”

“Well, we owe you for everything,” Edilio replied, “so we’ll do everything we can to help you guys get home. We should go back up to the lake. If anyone can find a way to send you back, it’s Astrid.”  
“Great. As long as we don’t have to take a fish truck again, that’s fine with me,” said Dean.

Edilio smiled. “Don’t worry, amigo. We’ve already wasted enough gas with the boat trip. We’re walking.”

Dean groaned, but moved with them as they started off towards the lake. He hoped Astrid had worked her supposed genius magic, and they would arrive back to a great plan to get home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> no spoilers, but imagine what monster would have been like if drake had died before fear. if only michael, if only.


	11. Just Passing Through

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this took so long to upload  
> im posting this with pneumonia  
> hope you enjoy

They did not arrive back to a great plan to get home. They arrived back to a plan, but it was crazy.

“No! It’s not crazy!” insisted Astrid. “I know it’s simple, but if you think about it logically, it makes sense!”

“No!” argued Dean. “It’s crazy! You want us to just run into the barrier, the one no one can get through, and expect it to just let us through? Crazy!”

“Listen. Ever since you came here, you broke the rules of the FAYZ. You broke them just by showing up! Petey made this bubble, right, and the purpose of the bubble was to keep kids in, and adults out. But the gaiaphage, it gives people the option to poof when you’re suddenly older than fourteen. Both of you are over fourteen. But you haven’t been approached by the gaiaphage, you haven’t been offered the poof. Why? Because you broke the rules. And so the rules don’t apply to you! And if the rules don’t apply to you, then the barrier shouldn’t be able to keep you out!”

Dean scoffed. “Okay, but this alien monster thing not talking to us doesn’t mean anything! So what! Maybe it only happens when you turn fifteen. We didn’t turn fifteen while we were here.”

“But even then, you’re still breaking the rules. Adults aren’t _supposed_ to be here. And yet you are. None of us really know how the world works in the FAYZ, but we know one cardinal rule: no adults.” She gestured up and down at Dean and Sam. “Explain how this doesn’t break that rule!”

Dean just shook his head. “This is just a theory. I’m not running at any impenetrable barriers until you have some proof it’ll work.”

Astrid muttered, “You have to test a theory before getting any proof,” then shook her head and spoke louder. “Okay, there’s something else, but it sounds even crazier.”

“Lay it on us, sister.”

“Alright. Before you came here, did you know about us? Had you seen anything about a giant bubble in California on the news?” Dean and Sam shook their heads. “Well I can guarantee people out there are aware of it.”

“Maybe they don’t, though,” said Edilio thoughtfully. “We might have just been erased, and everyone out there forgot about us.”

“No,” Astrid said confidently. “Now that Petey’s dead, the barrier is being kept in place by the gaiaphage. But it’s contained within the FAYZ. Remember Lana said it wanted to get out, and go after the rest of the people in the world? That means it can’t control the people out there yet. _So_ , they must be aware of the fact that something’s going on in Perdido Beach. But not you two. And that tells us what?”

No one answered, obviously, and Astrid smiled smugly. She was enjoying this immensely. “It tells us that you’re not from the same world as us. Maybe another universe; many scientists theorized that there were infinite universes pressed up against each other. Maybe you came through yours, into ours. So maybe the rules of our universe don’t apply to you, and you can go through the barrier. I know it sounds insane—”

“Actually, that makes sense.”

Astrid startled at Sam’s interruption. “It does?”

“Yeah,” he answered. “I believe that. It’s not proof, but it’s worth a shot.” He looked at Dean. “We can at least touch it to see if it’ll work.”

Dean acquiesced and they walked towards the barrier. They stared at it. When they first met, Astrid said that it was incredibly painful to touch. Dean held out his fist to Sam and said, “Rock, paper, scissors?” Sam rolled his eyes and reached out. His fingers barely brushed the surface before he was sucked forward and disappeared. Well, now it was settled. Even if it didn’t lead them home, Dean was going through the barrier. He wasn’t gonna abandon Sam.

He reached forward, but Edilio held his arm back gently. “Thanks again. For everything,” he said. “I hope that you guys get home safe.”

Dean nodded and said, “Thanks.” Then he turned back to the blank wall, took a deep breath, and touched it. His whole body shuddered and he hurtled towards the barrier. It was hot, just enough to be painful, but not enough to burn. The next thing he knew, he was stumbling and falling onto the floor of their dingy Georgia motel room. He looked up to see Sam on his hands and knees, looking like he was gonna hurl. “Dude,” Dean said. “Don’t you dare puke on this rug and stink up the whole room.” Sam laughed, then groaned and ran to the bathroom.

Dean managed to get up and sit on the bed as he listened to Sam retching, then the toilet flushing. “God, I’m so glad that worked,” he said, as Sam exited the bathroom.

“Me too,” said Sam. “I’d much rather face our usual monsters than some teenage psychopath with a tentacle whip any day.”

Dean laughed. “Although it was cool to learn that you can use carved bullets to kill demons. We should definitely start doing that.”

Sam nodded and collapsed on the other bed. His eyes closed almost immediately. “Ugh, I feel like I could sleep forever,” he said. “Thank God we’re home.”

“Yeah,” Dean agreed. “It totally sucked being gone.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> can you fucking believe i wrote this


End file.
